


Beasts Like Him, Like Me

by GeminiRoseHearts



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, basically a bunch of mishmash about dimitri and his thoughts, dimitri: being loved? in my house?? its more likely than you think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 22:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20496410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeminiRoseHearts/pseuds/GeminiRoseHearts
Summary: There was something about that new professor.





	Beasts Like Him, Like Me

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, guess who's back! Not gonna lie, I threw this junk together at like 3 AM right before work, so its mostly nonsense.
> 
> Still, wanted to get some of my thoughts out there. As usual, it's not betaed at all, but I'm only here for fun anyways.
> 
> \- Psii

Ever since Byleth had arrived to save the three students from bandits, someone had had his eye on him.

That someone was Dimitri.

Normally, the prince wouldn't pay too much attention to effectively what was just another mercenary. But there was something....different, about him. He was dressed in all black, a long coat hanging around him like a dark shadow lingering about him. His face was blank, unreadable and stoic, eyes as dark as the early morning sky above and twice as mysterious. When called to battle, he had nodded wordlessly, unsheathing a sword and rallying the students into the trees.

Once the skirmish had started, he was struck by the way he commanded battle, directing the three students with little more than a glance and a gesture. It had been a wise decision to place them in the trees, as the bandits could hardly see them in the low light. Byleth had taken to attacking from the leafy cover, leading them close behind to clean up in his wake. His fighting ability was something to behold. He easily slipped out of the way of enemy blades, and struck back with a swift ferocity that made Dimitri's core tremble. It was like he could feel the merc's slashes, and was mesmerized by it. As improper as it might've been, he couldn't stop himself from blurting out an invitation to join the Kingdom. Something about the way he'd fought, circling the bandits and taking them down while they cried out in surprise had captivated Dimitri and wasn't letting go. While logically, he couldn't deny that he was offering based on Byleth's fighting and tactical skills, he still felt a tinge of pride and perhaps something else when Byleth had responded in favor of the Kingdom, when asked his preference between the three leaders. Edelgard could scold him for trusting so easily all she liked, in his heart, he knew. He had to have the talents of Byleth Eisner.

◇◇◇

The second time Dimitri got to see Byleth, his teacher, fight for real was in the mission to kill the bandits in Zanado. While he had felt a small twinge of guilt at having to see his classmates kill for the first time, he was also drawn to the deadly dance their professor was engaged in. Despite their relative lack of cover, this hadn't fazed him, and he carefully commanded his students to compensate. He moved them about in small groups, close combat fighters in the front, long range and magic in the back. Once they got across the first bridge, he split them into two groups at Dimitri's suggestion for a pincer attack. As he weilded a lance, he got to see Byleth's fighting up close as he happened to be positioned just a few feet away from him.

And oh, did he fight! Unlike their previous mock battle, the professor lunged at the bandits and thieves with everything he had. He didn't fight like any knight or solider the prince knew. No, he fought dirty. Swinging his sword in an exaggerated arc, causing his enemy to stumble and allow Byleth to slip the knife in his belt inbetween their ribs. Kicking at their knees, or smashing his palm into their chins. Dimitri even saw him roll in the dirt, only to grab a handful and flinging it straight into the theif's eyes, making him falter and allowing for Byleth to slice right through his chest. It was exactly how a mercenary would fight, using every available tool and method to secure victory. It should've made the prince feel off put, and indeed some part of him that grew up around knights of valor and honor felt annoyed at the display.

A more overwhelming, larger part of him was filled with...something. Dimitri is never good at identifying emotions, and this feeling was possibly somewhere between giddy, proud and longing. It was a strange mix, and he had to tear his eyes away lest he be distracted. Still, he kept the professor in the corner of his view, watching him move as they pushed forward. Now more than ever, he was so glad their teacher had picked him.

◇◇◇

Again, there was that something. That wild way the professor fought. His face would remain ever unchanged, unfazed by the falling enemies around him, the relic sword he recently acquired moving as easily as a fifth limb. It danced in the air, the slightest flick of his wrist sending it hurtling towards a group of bandits they'd been charged of dispatching at the plea of a local merchant, scattering them like flies. A red glow trailed it, a glow that reflected off of Byleth’s face. Dimitri watched in a kind of stunned awe, holding off enemies with his lance as he occasionally flickered his eyes towards his stalwart teacher. His movements were quick and without hesitation, enacted as if by instinct. Of course, Byleth having been a mercenary, fighting practically was an instinct.

But there was something else, in the way his eyes glowed and his sword moved. He hadn't been able to identify exactly what it was, until now. He turned his head back to look at Dimitri, and his cerulean eyes shone in the dark. An unbridled hunger, not feral but steadfast. A seasoned hunter, a predator. It made that oh so familiar rush in his own veins come alive. It was the same rush he'd felt the first time they met, and in Zanado. A kind of giddy excitement and longing ache. A creature recognizing its kin. But Dimitri’s was untamed, all uncontrolled and animalistic. As he lunged for the bandits nearby with a new vigor, he could feel the piercing eyes of the professor on him, watching him. Evaluating him. That hunger in him is wild, but perhaps he could stand to learn to tame it in the way Byleth has, turning it less of a flaw and more of an advantage. A beast that hunts, but like him, a beast that guards.

If not for his own sake, then for his. His heart pounded at the thought of those eyes turning soft when they looked upon him, inviting him in. He longed for it more than he could ever say.

◇◇◇

The professor smiled at him. The ice around him seemed to melt away, and the man before him was so different, so much more expressive than the mercenary he met all those months ago. He could hardly say that was a bad thing, and when Byleth turned to him and indulged him with another soft grin, his heart sang.

He didn't think he could feel such things anymore. He'd been too afraid. But seeing his smile, the way Byleth looked illuminated by the soft moonlight, eyes bright and warm, he knew.

He _loved_ him.

◇◇◇

He almost cursed himself for wanting to see more emotions from his teacher's face. This...this was agony.

When Dimitri had gone to look for Byleth after defeating the demonic beasts in the abandoned chapel, the rain was pelting down so hard he could hardly see, much less hear. And yet a sound like a dying animal had pulled him towards the main structure. What he found would be seared into his memory.

Byleth was crying. He was sobbing, clutching the cold body of his father, of Jeralt, and every so often, he would let out a horrible high pitched sound. Vaguely, Dimitri identified it as keening, something he too had done on that horrible day in Duscur so many years ago. It was so raw and base, coming from the professor, like he had never felt grief at all before. The sound tore into him, and the prince found himself surging forward to hold him. He knew nothing could be done for Jeralt, if the pool of blood and his palid skin was any indication. So instead he tried to soothe his teacher, who refused to let go of his father's corpse and just shook with the force of his own sobs. No words were suitable for this situation, and even if there were Dimitri wasn't socially adept enough to say them. Instead, he sat there in the mud with his teacher, eventually managing to coax him up, helping to carry his father's body as they returned to the others.

The month that followed was hard. Byleth hardly left his room, and when he did, he seemed so worn and exhausted. He still showed up to teach, still guided all his students. He still got up with his normal activites of returning lost items and giving gifts on his free days. But there was a shadow of sadness that followed him, and more than once Dimitri spotted the red tinge to his eyes. It made the rage in his gut boil, that coupled with the knowledge that the same people responsible for his own parent's death made him feel practically rabid. More than a few training dummies were demolished in the coming weeks, and Felix only challenged him to a duel once. The accidental bruising Dimitri gave him had him steering clear the rest of the month.

The professor had come to speak with him. When he did, the prince found himself speaking before thinking again.

"I want to be your weapon of revenge. If you ordered me to kill....I would do it without hesitation."

At his words, Byleth had blinked slowly at him. He wasnt sure what he was thinking, hardly anyone does. But he'd nodded, solidifying Dimitri's resolve.

He could never know how much he meant those words. In that moment, the blood in him called for revenge. For himself, for his teacher.

He loved Byleth. And he would do anything for him. Even kill.

◇◇◇

The professor doesn't join the legion of ghosts that call and wail at the edges of Dimitri's vision. He'd known it was likely the professor fell during the battle for Garegg Mach, and indeed many sources claimed the professor had been flung off the cliff and down into the canyon below. But the prince hadn't seen it, hadn't discovered his mangled body. Not that he had gotten to look.

Captain Jeralt had been the addition to his ghosts, as unlikely as it would seem. Hed hardly knew the man, and yet that was unmistakably him, dressed in fiery orange with a look of disgust plastered over the merc's rough face. He was much quieter than the pained cries and pleas from Dimitri's father, stepmother, and Glenn, but when he did speak, his jeers often shook him to the core.

_You promised to be his tool of revenge,_ he would growl. _You said, no, SWORE, you will kill for him, kill anyone who he ordered you to. Are you a liar?_

"No! No, I did not lie!" he often cried back, voice echoing in the dark. "I meant it, I would kill for him, anything! Anything!!"

_And yet you let him die._ The statement made his hands tremble. As many years as it had been, he could remember how warm Byleth's hands had been, carefully fixing his stance, patting his head when he praised him. He felt so cold, and Jeralt's gaze stripped him of any defenses, leaving him naked and vulnerable.

"I...I WILL kill...I will kill that woman. Please, it will only be a little while longer, I'm sorry, I failed both of you...but I'll make it right! I will slaughter all thise in my way, for him...anything, for him." Jeralt didnt respond, but only looked on as the wailing of the others began to drown him out.

He longed to see his teacher again, even if he was a ghost. Even if he looked upon him like Jeralt did, or cried and howled like the others. He needed to see him again.

To beg for forgiveness.

To kill for him.

◇◇◇

He looked at him from the light. His ghostly hair and eyes glowed bright, making him shrink back into the dark corner he'd collapsed into. He was too brilliant, too beautiful. Like a saint, descending down upon him, looking at him with such worry and gentleness and care, like Dimitri wasnt a broken man curled up like some wounded animal.

His hand reached out. He didn't take it.

He wasn't a ghost. No ghost would say soft things, not to him. He moved to touch him, and he pulled away.

Dimitri felt cold.

◇◇◇

His hand reached out. This time, he took it. He had taken off his glove. Dimitri held it to his cheek. His cheek was freezing from the rain. Byleth's hand was warm, and soft. His felt a thumb brush under his eye, swiping away the tears mingling with the rain droplets. He almost sobbed.

"Your hands....they're so warm. Have they always been?"

◇◇◇

There was no joy in the way he stabbed his lance through Edelgard. As the former emperor slumped to the floor, crimson blood gushing from the wound, the sting of the knife in his shoulder felt so far away. His body was practically a collection of scars at this point, but somehow, he knew this scar would hurt the worst. He pulled the knife from his shoulder, dropping it on the floor. He left it behind, along with Edelgard, his friend. His sister....

When he stood at the threshold of the door that led to the outside, he hesitated. The sunlight was bright, and the creature still curled inside of him wanted to shy away. It wanted to go back, to sit in that dark place with the dead empress. He almost did turn back, moving to look back at her. But a hand held his, stopping him. He turned to look, at met Byleth's eyes. They were soft, and his face was pressed into a saddened look. But he shook his head, and Dimitri followed him. His former teacher led him into the light, that had frightened and confused him, with those hands that were so warm and kind. Reuniting with the others, his _friends_, with Byleth standing by his side. A warmth rose in his chest, consuming his being and filling his senses. He knew this, it had swelled up within him all those years ago. He remembered just what it was he was feeling.

Loved. Dimitri was loved. Byleth turned to look at him, bring his hand to his cheek. He spoke, softly, as if Dimitri would break.

"Let's go home."

The world truly was about to change, if even beasts like him could be loved.

**Author's Note:**

> God this was a MESS, but if you liked it anyways, I'd appreciate a kudos or comment :) 
> 
> I'm gonna try and write some more stuff, maybe not necessarily about Dimilyth, but definitely about gays. I'm gay and lonely.
> 
> \- Psii


End file.
